Newt Gingrich said U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is one of the smartest people he knows and that his remarks were meant to advocate that Republicans move slowly and listen to Americans on the issue of Medicare reform because it affects nearly everyone.

“I believe you need a much more comprehensive, much more fundamental approach to fixing Medicare, and you want to do it in a way” in which all citizens have an investment in the reform, Gingrich told reporters in Dubuque.

He also spoke about the backlash he’s taken on his comments on “Meet the Press.”

“I was very surprised by the response because the way David Gregory set the question up – which was fine – you either had to say, ‘I’d vote for it no matter what,’ or you had to say, ‘I disagree.’ That’s when it became ‘Gingrich has a big disagreement with Paul Ryan.’ I think Paul Ryan is brilliant and I think overall what he’s doing is tremendous, but I do think on two things – science and Medicare – he and I, hopefully as friends, have an agreement to disagree about how we get to the solutions.”

What Iowa Republican leaders think

“I think most people think it’s pretty early yet here, so let’s just kind of see how things play out.” – Matt Giese, Dubuque County GOP chairman

“Everything you read and hear, you’ve got to weigh. I think as far as trying to determine the actuality of his meaning or where he’s actually headed with this remains to be seen.” – Sheri Coughenour, co-chairwoman, Marshall County GOP

“I think the media is making it into something that it wasn’t. I think it was taken out of context. We have to do something to turn the deficit around, and I think Newt Gingrich had some ideas on how to do that.” – Mac McDonald, Black Hawk County GOP chairman

“I think Iowans and particularly Republicans are welcoming any candidate to the state so we can get an up-close and personal look at them. I think most voters are looking for a philosophical bent and maybe not so much focused on one specific issue out of hundreds of issues.” – John Werden, co-chairman, Carroll County GOP, who will introduce Gingrich today in Carroll

“Oftentimes in primary elections, the elections within the family, there are more mountains made out of molehills than in the general election, and I really think this is a case of that.” – Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, R-Wilton, Gingrich’s Iowa senior policy adviser

“I think Mr. Gingrich has conceded that it was a poor choice of words and that he probably shouldn’t have answered the question the way he did. But as he explains his position and how it actually meshes with Mr. Ryan’s, people will understand that, and that’s what I’m hoping we can finally get back to.” – Craig Schoenfeld, executive director, Gingrich’s Iowa campaign